Thursday, May 31, 2012

Moving Update: It SUCKS

UUUGGGGGGHHHHHH.....................
Yeah, It's going that well. This whole moving process sucks. I am absolutely exhausted both physically and mentally. We thought we were so lucky to have had an offer just three weeks out. We found our perfect house. THEN, it all went downhill.

First, the buyer had an inspection. No big deal, right? Not until we found out that our furnace was emitting CARBON MONOXIDE! Awesome, you know, if you like testing death. So, the furnace was shut down. The angry repair guy took a piece out of it and we were heatless. Lucky for us, we purchased a home warranty for our buyer and it covers us while our house is on the market. So, we get reimbursed for $1500 toward a new furnace (because ours is old as dirt and new parts went out with the dinosaurs)... only, because there isn't an immediate need for it (their words, not mine), since it's warm every other day, we'll get it when we get it. We're still waiting on the check.

Then, Mr. Inspector Guy tells us that we need to update our electrical work, which we had already planned on doing. We were still running off of a 60-amp fuse box and needed to update to a 120-amp circuit breaker. For those that don't understand, it basically means, "Give me a ton of money and I'll shut off your power for an entire day!" F-U-N, fun. Oh by the way, you also need to have four of your outlets updated because (insert electrician jibber-jabber here). Yeah, more money.

On top of those two major repairs, we also need to replace the door that goes from our house to our garage with a steel entry door and patch a hole in the garage wall where in intercom used to be because of something to do with a firewall.

Three windows need to be replaced because of broken seals causing wood rot. This was on our inspection report when we bought our house (along with the garage door and hole) but because we were naive property virgins, and our realtor back then apparently didn't feel that it was necessary, we didn't worry about it. Now, we are dishing out more money to fix things that should have been fixed before we moved in! I know what you're thinking, "Why not just let your buyer deal with it?" right? Funny you should ask! Because the type of loan she is getting won't give her a dime until the house passes an inspection. It's awesome.

Oh wait, I'm not done. Do you know how expensive it is to fix your foundation? Well, luckily we don't either, BUT we might if we stay there long enough! Apparently the back half of our patio has a slight negative slope to it, causing a trickle of water to run down along our foundation. This has caused a crack in a wall in the unfinished part of our basement. The crack "isn't big enough or deep enough YET to have to repair the foundation," so instead, we only have to repair the cause. This means, we have to have our cement patio leveled. This involved drilling and shooting air (from what I understand) and cement injections... or something like that... until the patio is level. Or, as I heard it, more money.

Looking on the bright side, maybe we will make enough money from the sale to do some of these repairs?? NO WAY. Our home, that was appraised at $100,000 six years ago, that we accepted an offer for $98,000, was only appraised at NINETY THOUSAND FREAKING DOLLARS. You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me?!?! Word around the block is that the appraiser had to STRUGGLE to even get it to 90 because there are too many houses in our neighborhood that are being foreclosed on, bought super cheap, flipped, and sold for more. Grr... The appraisal was done before any of the inspection updates, so we were able to get it up to $92,000. We are still going to have to PAY to move, bot make any money on the sale of our house.

Mike and I have grown to HATE our house. It is draining our energy and our bank account. We have shed far too many tears because of that money pit. At this point, we are doing what needs to be done to get the heck out of there. Luckily, our buyer wants our house really bad and hasn't bailed on us. Closing is officially on for tomorrow and then we say, "SEE YA" to Bolton Drive and all of it's headaches.

Remember back when I was all excited about being in a new house by Memorial Day? Well, we had an inspection on that house. Luckily we did because we found out that it was structurally unsound. The process we had to go through with leveling our patio would have had to be done to the ENTIRE house. That would involve pulling up the new carpet and tile throughout the main level. On top of that, the furnace had a gas leak, the A/C was on it's way out, several windows needed to be replaced, doors needed to be replaced because the damage to the structure caused the doors to break. It was turning out to be more like a nightmare instead of a dream. We graciously backed out of the deal and started the whole process of house hunting all over again, all while knowing that we were being booted out of our house by June 1st.

We found another house fairly quickly. As luck would have it, someone else found that house, too. We got ourselves into sort of a bidding war. Fortunately, it was already priced lower than the first house, so we were able to up the price a little bit. We ended up offering about $3000 over their asking price and they accepted our offer! The inspection checked out with only a few minor repairs needed. The appraisal passed. The biggest blessing we have had was the fact that Mike knows the couple that we are buying the house from. They have let us move our belongings into the house even though we have not closed on it. We will forever be grateful to them because that saved us from moving twice! We don't get possession until June 14th (this could change), so for a little over 2 weeks, we are homeless. Mike's parents have let us stay with them, but everything we own is at the new house.

I am SO ready to be done with this whole ordeal! I am NEVER moving again. EVER.

9 comments:

Yes. Welcome to the world of real estate. We had our house on the marked for over a year because the first time we got an offer, it was appraised so low we couldn't afford to sell it. At least you got out. We are still stuck. But thankfully, there were no inspection findings, so we are good there. We just owe more than our house it worth.

It's such fun. I remember reading your excited posts about moving and hoping things would work out better for you. So sorry they didn't.

girl I am so sorry it's been such a headache! I feel the same about moving, I keep saying I'll never do it again, however as we speak my husband and I are considering getting into an auction for some property.... we must be freaking crazy! I'm so glad you had an inspection on the other house and realized you shouldn't buy it. We opted out of an inspection on the house we're in now, luckily (knock on wood) we have had zero issues but sometimes I still regret that decision. Selling a house is zero fun too.... you want/need to desperately sell it so you're at the buyer's mercy and will do just about everything they ask so that you can get it sold! Good luck, I hope everything else goes smoothly for you!

About the house you were going to buy.. Had a structural engineer confirm that there is no structural issues with our home.. The door on the main level is very slightly out of square because we had to repair the door frame after I broke it because I locked myself out and couldn't get back in. Windows only needed new mechanisms to crank them open basically because of age and lack of use. Gas leak in furnace only needed resealed because of age. A/C is older but still kickin.. Had it serviced last year and they said it's good to go... Agreed to take care of everything for you.... It's a very nice home with great attributes.. Thanks for the offer. Wish you would have stuck around to find out all was well. You would have loved to live here as myself and my family have. Congrats and Good luck with you new home. I hope you enjoy it as much as you would have enjoyed ours. -Travis

Absolutely LOVE that the actual home owner found your blog and commented on it. Shannon,is a self proclaimed "avoider" of drama, yet she can't seem to figure out that she creates unnecessary drama with her wonderful blog and her hateful words. Shannon is what we would call a "repeat offender". C'mon folks, LOL, will she ever learn??? Thank you Shannon for the continued entertainment and and the most recent reminder of your stupidity and ignorance. I am your BIGGEST FAN! Looking forward to reading about your next victim and also hoping that they too take advantage of the opportunity to put you in your place. Maybe one day you will get tired of offending people and figure it out. Your poor poor husband and girls!!!

interesting.....looks like "robert smith" loves CREATING drama! (someone who hides behind a name??? just my thought.)Keep blogging, Shannon, it's real life....some is pretty, some ugly, and yes, some becomes drama because IT IS WHAT IT IS!! (and it looks like you are providing "entertainment" for some too! Now that I LOL to!)

No drama here... just the facts of home selling/buying. I also don't believe I threw out any "hateful words." The house we were going to buy was gorgeous! We loved every little thing about it; perfect for us. We were just looking for something that wouldn't require a bunch of repairs. That home seemed to need more than what we were expecting. In our mind, we were looking for our "forever house." Looking ahead, we felt that the repairs that we were told it needed would have caused more headaches down the road (like the home we sold did). That is not saying anything bad against the home or the sellers. They were great to work with and yes, they did agree to fix everything on the inspection report. BUT, as buyers, it is our option to accept it or back out. We chose to back out and based on the opinions of our realtor, our inspector, and our family, we chose the right path FOR US. Just like the other 20 houses we looked at and didn't want to buy. I don't think anyone was "put in their place" or offended. It's life! If you don't like mine, quit reading. Simple as that.

Hello sweets! I'm so sorry I've been MIA. This last month of school has been so busy and I'm so ready to be FINISHED! 2 more weeks! So....you're not going to live on the street I grew up on? I sure have missed a lot!! I'm so amazed by your ability to take on so much and do it all so well! You're an inspiration! Let's catch up as soon as you find yourself with a moment to spare! Give me a ring or shoot me an email to let me know! xoxoxoxxx